Thermal retention food storage containers

Claim 2

A container for storing food for moderately extended periods of time at temperatures differing from the environment external to the container comprising: a transportable rectangular insulated box having an interior food storage region, the box comprising a pair of spaced apart upright side panels having facing inner sidewall surfaces, a pair of parallel, facing, spaced apart lateral panels, a side base including one of the lateral panels, a rear base panel, the box being supportable on the side base and on the rear base panel; a door, the door and the rear base panel being disposed in spaced-apart relationship generally normal to the spaced apart side walls and normal to the spaced apart lateral panels, the door pivotally coupled to the lateral panel of the side base movable from a closed position including an upright plane passing through the box, to an open position providing lateral access sufficient to transfer food trays to and from the interior food storage region; a pair of liquid fillable thermal storage tanks removably disposed within the box, for tending to raise and lower the temperature within the food storage region above and below external ambient temperatures, the thermal storage tanks having a narrow base disposed on the base panel panel of the box, and laterally disposed shelf supports for supporting a plurality of trays within the box in a generally horizontal plane when the box is supported on the side base; and at least one tray disposed within and slidably removable from the food storage region for containing food, the at least one tray being situated between the liquid fillable thermal storage tanks and supported by the shelf supports.

Claim 3

The invention as set forth in claim 1, and in which: the liquid fillable thermal storage tanks have a generally rectangular configuration defining a tank height and width, the box having an interior height measured between the lateral panels slightly greater than the tank height, and an internal width measured between the door and the rear base panel slightly greater than the tank width, each tank being disposed upright, parallel and adjacent to a different side panel, the shelf supports of each tank facing the shelf supports of the other tank; and stacking means coupled to the lateral panels for coupling the box to a different container configured in accordance with a container as specified by this claim to prevent movement of the different container normal to the upright plane.

Claim 4

The invention as set forth in claim 1, and in which the liquid fillable heat source tanks comprise a fillable capped opening, the bottle comprising an uppermost surface adjacent the uppermost lateral panel, the capped opening being disposed beneath the upper surface of the tank to limit the quantity of liquid in the tank and thereby diminish transverse stresses on the tank when the tank is filled with a liquid and subjected to freezing temperatures; and the shelf supports comprise a plurality of pairs of laterally disposed elongated brackets of generally L-shaped cross section, each bracket of a pair being fastened to a different one of the pairs of tanks at corresponding levels and generally parallel to the bases of the tanks to support lips of trays disposed on the bracket pair generally horizontally when the box is disposed on the side base.

Claim 5

The invention as set forth in claim 3, and in which at least one of the tanks comprises resinated fiberglas, a plurality of rows of locking fasteners having a locking portion embedded in the resinated fiberglass and means for fastening each bracket to a different row of locking fasteners, the bracket having means for inhibiting movement of trays normal to the upright plane.

Claim 6

A container for storing food for moderately extended periods of time at temperatures in a wide temperature range differing from external ambient temperatures comprising: an insulated, rectangular box having an interior food storage region, a movable door disposed along an upright plane when in a closed position sealing the food storage region, a lateral base panel and uppermost lateral panel parallel to the lateral base panel and normal to the upright plane; means coupled to the box and disposed within the food storage region for supporting a plurality of shelves horizontally when the lateral base panel is disposed in a generally horizontal plane; first stacking means disposed outside the box on the lateral base panel for receiving mateable stacking means of a first similar container so that the insulated box may be stacked on the first similar container for convenient access and to allow maximal food serving space utilization; a pair of liquid fillable thermal storage tanks removably disposed within the box, each tank having a plurality of shelf supports, the shelf supports of each tank being disposed in facing and corresponding relationship for supporting trays on the shelf supports between the pair of tanks; and second stacking means disposed outside the box on the uppermost side panel for receiving mateable stacking means from a second similar container so that the second similar container may be stacked on the insulated box for convenient access and to allow maximal food serving space utilization.

Claim 7

A container for storing food for moderately extended periods of time at temperatures in a wide temperature range differing from external ambient temperatures comprising: an insulated, rectangular box having an interior food storage region, a movable door disposed along an upright plane when in a closed position sealing the food storage region, a lateral base panel and uppermost lateral panel parallel to the lateral base panel and normal to the upright plane; means coupled to the box and disposed within the food storage region for supporting a plurality of shelves horizontally when the lateral base panel is disposed in a generally horizontal plane; first stacking means disposed outside the box on the lateral base panel for receiving mateable stacking means of a first similar container so that the insulated box may be stacked on the first similar container for convenient access and to allow maximal food serving space utilization; a pair of liquid fillable thermal storage tanks removably disposed within the box, each tank having a plurality of shelf supports, the shelf supports of each tank being disposed in facing and corresponding relationship for supporting trays on the shelf supports between the pair of tanks; and second stacking means disposed outside the box on the uppermost side panel for receiving mateable stacking means from a second similar container so that the second similar container may be stacked on the insulated box for convenient access and to allow maximal food serving space utilization.

Claim 8

The invention as set forth in claim 5, and in which: the first stacking means comprises an elongated, rectangular receptacle comprising two pairs of spaced apart facing plates, each pair being disposed normal to the other pair; and the second stacking means comprises an elongated rail coupled to the side panel for mating with an elongated, rectangular receptacle of the second similar container disposable on the box, each pair of plates for limiting movement of a shallow elongated rail of the second similar container normal to each pair of plates, thereby limiting relative movement of the box relative to the second similar container therebeneath.

Claim 9

A transportable food storage container for storing food for moderately extended periods of time at a wide temperature range differing from temperatures outside the container comprising: an insulated rectangular box comprising an interior food storage region, a pair of upright side panels having sidewall surfaces in facing spaced-apart relationship, a lateral side base panel and a lateral uppermost panel in spaced-apart relationship disposed normal to the upright panels, a side base including the side base panel, a rear upright base panel normal to the upright side panels; a door pivotally coupled to the side base panel and disposed normal to the upright side panels and parallel and spaced apart from the rear base panel for enclosing the food storage region, the door movable from a closed position sealing the food storage region to an open position, the closed position defining an upright plane including the door; a pair of liquid fillable thermal storage tanks disposed within the food storage region for altering the temperature of the food storage region with respect to the temperature external to the insulated box when filled with a liquid having a temperature differing from the external environment, the thermal storage tank pair comprising a plurality of corresponding shelf support pairs for supporting trays between the tanks normal to the upright plane and generally horizontally when the box is supported on the side base; at least one tray having a peripheral lip supported by one of the shelf support pairs; and first stacking means disposed outside the box coupled to the uppermost lateral side panel and second stacking means disposed outside the box coupled to the side base panel for stacking containers of the type configured in accordance with this claim upon and below the box, the first stacking means being mateable with the second stacking means for limiting relative movement of the box in a plane normal to the upright plane of the door with respect to another container stacked above or below the box.

Claim 10

The invention as set forth in claim 7, and in which: the first stacking means comprises a pair of spaced apart, elongated risers transversely disposed outside the box on the uppermost side panel for separating a different container disposable on the first stacking means from the box to allow the door to be opened without interference, and a pair of elongated rails on the risers; and the second stacking means comprises a pair of spaced apart, elongated, rectangular receptacles transversely disposed outside the box on the side base panel and mateable with the rails, the receptacles and rails for limiting movement in mutually perpendicular directions normal to the door of different containers disposed above and below the box.

Claim 11

The invention as set forth in claim 7, and in which: each tank comprises a narrow generally rectangular fiberglass enclosure having an uppermost surface, a cap disposed beneath the uppermost surface for limiting the maximum liquid level in the container and providing an air margin for limiting transverse expansion of a liquid against the tank upon freezing, a plurality of L-shaped brackets disposed so as to lie in a horizontal plane when the insulated box is supported on its side base, and a plurality of fastener elements having a cross piece head embedded in the bottle for fastening the brackets thereto; the door being pivotably attached on hinges to the side base panel so that the door opens downwardly when the box is supported on its side base, the side base having a sufficient height so that the door may be pivoted to a horizontal position to allow sufficient access to transfer trays to and from the interior food storage region, the door comprising a food supporting surface disposable in a generally horizontal plane when the box is supported on its side base panel; and the box comprising latch means disposed on the door and the uppermost lateral side panel for sealing the door to a closed position, the box further comprising means for manually grasping and lifting the container vertically when the side base is disposed substantially horizontally.

Claim 12

The invention as set forth in claim 9 and comprising a tray supporting brace, the tanks when disposed against the sidewall surfaces define a tray accepting length between the brackets of opposite tanks, the brace for supporting trays having a dimension substantially less than the tray accepting length comprising a tray lip support member disposed between the sidewall surfaces of the box and bearing on the side base panel, a pair of elongated brace support members, each bearing on shelf supports of a different tank and means disposed adjacent the rear base panel coupling the brace support member to the tray lip support member so that trays of reduced dimension having a peripheral lip may be supported by the tray lip support member and by a bracket on one of the tanks.

Claim 13

A liquid fillable thermal storage tank for tending to raise and lower the temperature of an insulated food storage container with respect to ambient conditions external to the container, the container being of the type comprising an insulated box having an interior food storage region, a base panel, a door having a closed position normal to the base panel and a pair of spaced apart facing side panels normal to the door and the base panel, the tank comprising: a rigid generally narrow profile rectangular configuration liquid retainable tank capable of holding hot water without material deformation, the tank having a lateral base surface and a pair of facing upright generally rectangular surfaces; and a plurality of shelf supports coupled to one of the generally rectangular surfaces of the liquid retainable tanks which provide support to a plurality of shelves generally parallel to the base surface when the tanks are disposed within an insulated food storage container of the aforementioned type, are supported on the base panel, bear on the side panels on the box and the shelf supports face a food storage region of the box.

Claim 14

A liquid fillable thermal storage tank for tending to raise and lower the temperature of an insulated food storage container with respect to ambient conditions external to the container, the container being of the type comprising an insulated box having an interior food storage region, a base panel, a door having a closed position normal to the base panel and a pair of spaced apart facing side panels normal to the door and the base panel, the tank comprising: a rigid generally narrow profile rectangular configuration liquid retainable tank capable of holding hot water without material deformation, the tank having a lateral base surface and a pair of facing upright generally rectangular surfaces; and a plurality of shelf supports coupled to one of the generally rectangular surfaces of the liquid retainable tanks which provide support to a plurality of shelves generally parallel to the base surface when the tanks are disposed within an insulated food storage container of the aforementioned type, are supported on the base panel, bear on the side panels on the box and the shelf supports face a food storage region of the box.

Claim 15

The invention as set forth in claim 11 and in which: each shelf support comprises an elongated bracket of L-shaped cross section having an upright portion fastened to the tank and a laterally extending tray lip support portion; and the tank comprising an uppermost surface and a removably capped opening disposed beneath the uppermost surface to provide an air margin upon filling to minimize transverse expansion of the tank upon freezing of a liquid therein.

Claim 16

The invention as set forth in claim 12 and comprising a plurality of laterally disposed rows of fasteners embedded in the tank for adjustably fastening the shelf supports thereto.

Claim 17

The invention as set forth in claim 13 and in which the laterally extended portions have uppermost end portions and raised portions disposed adjacent the uppermost end portions to limit lateral tray movement when the trays are disposed on the shelf supports within the insulated box.